Losing more Lockkeepers - just in time for the new season

[Time Out]

I have just seen 3 EA bods finish putting to bed a patrol vessel at lunchtime a couple of days ago, they got into three very shiny vehicles to go their separate ways... Not sure what the purpose of their day was but i doubt it was cost efficient.

You can never judge a person by their car. Never.

 

[Seamaster7]

I'm always happy to do the locks and have been mistaken for the lock keeper on a number of occasions but the liability thing is interesting.

If there are to be fewer employed lock keepers then more locks will be operated by non trained persons. This does not mean they do not understand what to do. Plenty of Boat owners will be fully au fait with the workings of a lock.

What interests me is the position if a Boat owner (myself as an example) were to be operating the lock with a full chamber and a terrible accident happens resulting in a load of children and a granny falling in and being crushed between Boats and eventually drowning.

How would the inquest view the fact that there was not a trained operative doing the lock controls?

When on public power most of the locks have no emergency override systems and one can not reverse the opening of the sluices.


Hopefully I would be able to point to this as the reason for the granny and kids having their last breaths mostly consisting of water but then why is there no safety override system?

Run around in circles screaming ?

When on public power the sluice operation can be stopped immediately by pressing the close sluices button. This will automatically shut them down and you can deal with whatever is occurring.

 

[Barge]

You can never judge a person by their car. Never.

Quite...They were probably pool cars....all 3 of em

 

[billskip]

Quite...They were probably pool cars....all 3 of em

Two white and a red.....

 

[Outinthedinghy]

Don't go there - could be an excuse to remove public power........................

To be fair the public power service does in fact need removing. Remember what the River was like befor the PP? I do and yes it was a lot more calm in the evening which is when one wants the River to be calm. Public Power was originally on a timer and when it went 24/7 it seemed to coincide with an attempt to remove lock keepers. The SOS Save our service campaign started up I recall that Kim the wife of Adam Benge at Cookham was a campaigner. It worked and lock keepers were retained. I personally think that public power should be put back onto the timer ( until 9pm then hand wind only).

Otherwise there will be problems both predictable and unpredictable .

 

[Big John]

If you remove public power between 21.00 to 07.00 boaters will have every excuse not to close the gates after they leave the lock chamber.

 

[billskip]

If you remove public power between 21.00 to 07.00 boaters will have every excuse not to close the gates after they leave the lock chamber.

Which will help the next boater that is lucky enough to approach an open empty lock...

 

[Barge]

Or make extra work for someone coming the other way having to close it...

 

[Big John]

I am not going to get into the details but the EA state on the non tidal Thames that lock gates must be closed and not left open.

 

[billskip]

Or make extra work for someone coming the other way having to close it...

It's the same amount of work...you open and close the gate at one end and open the gate at the other....OK agreed rules say lock should be left with gates closed and empty...but in my many years on the Thames people would leave the sluice open to empty and off the go...which then meant you had to close sluice...but it all equals itself out if you leave it as you find it...
It's about abiding by the rules for reasons I find difficult to understand because to me a lock left full is safer than an empty one if some stumbling drunk falls in wandering about in the dead of night.

 

[Pump-Out]

I find difficult to understand because to me a lock left full is safer than an empty one if some stumbling drunk falls in wandering about in the dead of night.

Leaving the locks empty was to reduce the weed and slime growing on the lock walls.
Now they are never cleaned.........

 

[oldgit]

Personally think anybody you leaves the gate sluices open after exit should be..................
Often spend time wondering why the lock was taking so long to fill

 

[Chris_d]

Despite what the rules say I think you should always leave the sluices open at one end, to either keep the lock empty or full. The gates leak so the level will always either go down or up an inch or too depending on the lock. Culham being a good example which will take 20 minutes just to add one inch of water to open the top gates if the sluices were left closed

 

[Time Out]

I get why you need to close the gates if it’s a tow path etc but it’s a 50/50 gamble as to whether they are full or not vs direction.

 

[Bran]

So if I follow the rules and aim to leave the lock empty how do I do this without leaving the lower sluices open after every transit, assuming no one else is approaching the lock.
Going downstream after passing through the lock I would normally close the tail gates and leave the tail sluices open, if I close the gates and the sluices often the lock will fill after some time so I have not left the lock empty.
Going upstream I normally walk to the tail gates and open the sluices. After this I am not going to wait until the lock empties and then close the sluices.
Is there any other way to transit the lock’s correctly?
Confused by some of the earlier comments.

 

[Chris_d]

So if I follow the rules and aim to leave the lock empty how do I do this without leaving the lower sluices open after every transit, assuming no one else is approaching the lock.
Going downstream after passing through the lock I would normally close the tail gates and leave the tail sluices open, if I close the gates and the sluices often the lock will fill after some time so I have not left the lock empty.
Going upstream I normally walk to the tail gates and open the sluices. After this I am not going to wait until the lock empties and then close the sluices.
Is there any other way to transit the lock’s correctly?
Confused by some of the earlier comments.

That's fine leave sluices open, I don't bother emptying the lock if it's mid day that would just waste water as you don't know which direction the next boat is coming from.

 

[billskip]

Confused by some of the earlier comments.

No need to be confused whatever anyone does it will be inconvenient to someone...
Life on the water for me is a pleasure, but for some, for some reason, they will be in a hurry or inconvenienced by something.

Sit back and smile watching as they jockey for position to be first in when the gates open...

 

[DougOut]

That's fine leave sluices open, I don't bother emptying the lock if it's mid day that would just waste water as you don't know which direction the next boat is coming from.

Hi Chris,
Surely it won't waste water. If it doesn't go into the lock then it goes over the weir....doesn't it?
I saw Winning Spirit up for sale at T&K. Are you replacing her?

 

[Chris_d]

Hi Chris,
Surely it won't waste water. If it doesn't go into the lock then it goes over the weir....doesn't it?
I saw Winning Spirit up for sale at T&K. Are you replacing her?

Yes Winning Spirit is up for sale, great boat for someone. Replacement is great, similar but bigger.

 

[Riverfan]

FYI today's (Monday)lockkeeper status:

Locks Clifton to Hambledon - 13 locks and 4 lockkeepers.

Shiplake and Caversham on hand wind only.
Overnight Mapleduram closed.

Tuesday Hurley closed all day.

Just how bad can it get?